$150 Million Offer For Upper East Side Apartment

If you're really, really rich, why not offer $150 million for a triplex penthouse at The Mark Hotel on East 77th Street? The Post reports that Russian-born American billionaire Leonard Blavatnik (#102 on the last Forbes list has "signed a letter of intent" for a number of units that would total almost 30,000 square feet. That's about $5,000/square foot!

The Mark is being renovated to offer residences in addition to its hotel rooms. We guess that Blavatnik will be getting the penthouse, the three apartments on the 15th floor, and perhaps both residences on the 14th floor (the square footage hits about 30,000). You can see plans for the 14th and 15th floor here, and the 10,000 square penthouse here (it has a 2,300 square foot rooftop terrace and a skylit conservatory). The apartment would also have twice-daily maid service and other amenities from the Mark - and Sant Ambroeus is just downstairs!

One real estate agent told the Post, "It's hard to imagine there's a real-estate slump when a number like that is being bandied about." Indeed - the Real Estate Board of New York's latest report says that the market for condos is strong (Manhattan prices rose 25%) while co-ops sales were stable. And Blavatnik already has two NYC residences - a $50 mllion townhouse and a $27 million apartment on Fifth Avenue.

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By Jen Chung in News on November 8, 2007 9:23 AM

Comments [rss]

EastRiver

Ph, you got it backward. When/if the dollar appreciates, the European buyers will make a killing on their US real estate investments.

They only make a killing if they sell. If they all sell, it should naturally put downward pressure on condo prices or least keep them flat.

What I am interested in is what is going to happen to the European speculators that are planning on renting their units. If Wall Street starts laying off in larger numbers and tempers college hiring next spring, will the rental market slow? Presumably with a high Euro these owners can keep paying their expenses but I do wonder what will happen if Europe's economy falters.

cool

New York will become weak again. It happened in the early 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. The 00's were helped out by the low interest rates, but the market will eventually succumb. Particularly as unemployment hikes up. The Foreign bid is certainly helping things, but you'd be surprised how much this demand dries up as prices begin to fall. Catching a falling knife is a risky business. BTW, Ph, you got it backward. When/if the dollar appreciates, the European buyers will make a killing on their US real estate investments.

latb

Matty, all of what you said is true, also remember that we're talking about a very small slice of land with a fairly ridiculous amount of demand on it and next to no new space to build.

matty

yeah, judging by the maps gothamist posts it seems that manhattaners make more money, have better credit and can pay their mortgages - if they even need mortgages - hence making it totally isolated from the rest of the country.

that said, it might become an island of the ultra rich one day, and that's no fun for anyone.

except the ultra rich.

chuzzlewit

gold eater.

latb

Matty, it surprises lots of people from elsewhere in the country (where there's a pretty much across the board slump) without a grasp of what real estate is like in New York and why it will always operate independently of the rest of the nation's marketplace as a whole.